Ricetta: Arista di maiale al latte

Pork cooked in milk...

In Tuscany the word arista refers to the pork loin, which would be lombata di maiale in italian.  Pellegrino Artusi dates the word arista back to 1430 in Florence, during an ecumenical council held involving the greek and roman churches.  The florentines served pork cooked in rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper and the greeks exclaimed ''arista!'' meaning buona, coming in some shape or form from the word aristos, greek for best.

This recipe originates from Florence, but the use of milk may have influence from the veneto, but I am not 100% sure. Here are the ingredients I used.

3 pounds pork loin (with backbone taken out)

1 liter of whole milk

4 cloves of garlic

rosemary (handful)

sage (6 leaves)

olive oil

salt

pepper

Pretty simple instructions here, you brown the pork on all sides, throw in the herbs and garlic, salt, pepper and bring the milk to a slow boil all together.  Transfer to the oven 320 F, about an hour and a half, or until cooked through.

For a wine, I would go the route of a light to medium body Italian red.  Like Mario Batali once said...  In Tuscany you dont want to try to pair a white with pork, unless you want to get shot and dragged across the street!  A chianti is perfect with this.  I had a cheap and simple Chianti next to a beautiful Coudoulet de Beaucastel Cotes du Rhone 2007.  Indeed I preferred the Cotes du Rhone by itself but the Chianti worked better with the dish.  Being lighter on the palate and not overwhelming the taste of the pork.